#david johansen

New York Dolls: One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006)

Speaking of the New York Dolls (see my recent Reddy Teddy post) ...

For years and years, the New York Dolls' altogether brief, historically essential but commercially disastrous, career through the early '70s looked like a cautionary tale explaining precisely what NOT to do when trying to make it as a rock 'n' roll band.

But, after nearly three decades of retirement, during which they buried more original band members (Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, Arthur Kane) than were still breathing (David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain), the Dolls miraculously reemerged in 2005.

In doing so, they deservedly laid claim to their proto-punk glam tiaras, with the support of untold multitudes of bands and fans they'd influenced over the years, including Smiths diva Morrissey, who booked them for the 2004 Meltdown Festival just prior to Arthur's passing.

Now, backed by guitarist Steve Conte, keyboardist Brian Koonin, bassist Sami Yaffa (ex-Hanoi Rocks), and drummer Brian Delaney, David and Sylvain inked a new deal with heavy metal powerhouse Roadrunner Records, of all labels, for their third official studio album.

And this, in turn, emerged 20 years ago (and 32 since their second), when I happened to be Roadrunner's head of digital marketing (I even interviewed Sylvain for our website), bearing the surprisingly long-winded, One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This.

A man with a plan, Johansen (who sadly passed on last year, preceded by Sylvain in '21) borrowed a line from Virgil's Aeneid (forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit) to reflected the wry wit, intellectual eloquence, "philosophical musings, and multisyllabic constructions" (as my friend Mark Deming put it in the All-Music Guide) he brought to this material.

It's reflected in deceptively clever first single "Dance Like a Monkey" ("evolution is so obsolete"), the climate-conscious "Dancing On the Lip of a Volcano" (featuring R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe), and the poignant, bittersweet nostalgia for people, places, and an entire world long gone emanating from "Maimed Happiness," "I Aint Got Nothin'," and my personal favorite, "Take a Good Look at My Good Looks."

And, musically-speaking, the above showed the New York Dolls of '06 were more of a tight, lean, battle-scarred classic rock band (see also "Runnin' Around," "Plenty of Music") than either a long-in-the-tooth glam ("Fishnets & Cigarettes") or pre-punk ("Punishing World," "Gotta Get Away from Tommy") proposition.

This too amplified the message conveyed by this critically-acclaimed comeback album's title, and you have to admire Johansen's foresight for selecting a phrase that both addressed their unlikely rebirth and could resonate with future generations that discover this legendary band.

Alas, not unlike their first incarnation, the Dolls' return reached a mere fraction of the audience it deserved to, but the reconstituted group still saw fit to deliver two more studio LPs -- '09's Cuz I Sex So and '11's Dancing Backward in High Heels, before resuming their retirement.

Now there are no Dolls left alive to play in the dollhouse (note the amusing cartoon strip included in the inner album sleeve), but their children's children's children will make sure the music contained within never fully fades away.

David Bowie, David Johansen, Iggy Pop, Cyrinda Foxe, Lisa Robinson